Since co-founding the seminal improv rock outfit Phish in 1983, guitarist, composer, and songwriter Trey Anastasio has explored a wide variety of musical pathways ranging from atonal fugues and elaborate charts with Phish to adventurous free jazz on his first solo project, Surrender to the Air (1996), to collaborations with the likes of Tom Marshall, Les Claypool, Philip Glass, Stewart Copeland, and others. Anastasio pursued many of these projects during the 2000s, a period when Phish embarked on several extended hiatuses and breakups. After releasing a shiny, pop-oriented eponymous solo album in 2002, the guitarist formed Oysterhead -- a group featuring Claypool and Copeland -- and instituted a large solo band that supported him both on record and in the studio. Once Phish became active again during the 2010s, Anastasio continued to pursue extracurricular musical ideas in his solo career, including Lonely Trip and Mercy, a pair of albums he largely recorded on his own during the COVID-19 pandemic.
